The Times and The Sunday Times unveil new-look websites

UK newspapers, The Times and The Sunday Times have unveiled their new-look websites in advance of converting to a paid-for access model.

The new websites, thetimes.co.uk and thesundaytimes.co.uk will replace the current combined site, timesonline.co.uk.

Registered users will be able to access the sites for free for a month before the payment barrier is put in place.

From 1 June, a charge of £1 (about R11) a day or £2 (about R22) a week will be introduced for access to both sites. Access to the digital services will also be included in the seven-day subscriptions of print customers to The Times and The Sunday Times.

This is a landmark move for newspaper publishers and News International is prepared for a heavy loss of audience. The timesonline.co.uk site received around 1.2 million daily visitors. It is estimated that as little as 5% of people are prepared to pay for their favourite newspaper online. This would equate to around 60 000 daily users.

The aim is to create more of a members club feel, offering readers exclusive deals with a range of advertising partners.

As part of the new model, news aggregators such as Google News will no longer be able to access Times content.

The strategy will be rolled out to other News Corporation titles over the next year.